Martinique: The last masters of the islands?
As the two-week-long-protest in Guadeloupe continues, the other French Overseas Departments of America – French Guiana and Martinique – are thinking about their own contribution to this deep thinking and massive mobilization. In the midst of this brainstorming, the French-encrypted and sometimes trouble-making channel, Canal+ is seasoning up the debate with a sizzling hot documentary about the tight relationships between certain ethnic groups and economic domination on the French island of Martinique. The Martinican blogosphere, naturally, has been buzzing…
One Martinican blogger, blogdemoi explains her interest in watching the documentary after presenting the synopsis [Fr]:
Voilà le synopsis, disponible sur le site de Canal+, concernant ”Les derniers maîtres de la Martinique” (production: TAC Presse):
En Martinique, moins de 1% de la population détient 52% des terres agricoles. Il s’agit des békés, les héritiers des vieilles familles blanches, installées dans l’île avant la Révolution française.
Pour Spécial Investigation, Romain Bolzinger enquête sur une communauté méconnue et discrète qui a traversé les siècles en préservant ses coutumes, ses richesses et ses codes et dresse le portrait d’un département rongé par les inégalités et les rancoeurs post-coloniales.
In Martinique, less than 1% of the population owns 52% of the farming lands. They are the “békés“[Fr], name given to the families of white people, who have been living and managing the island even before the French Revolution.
For Spécial Investigation, Romain Bolzinger investigated a little-known and discreet community who have succeeded in preserving its traditions, wealth and codes through the centuries. He drew the portrait of a department [Martinique] tormented by various inequalities and post-colonial resentment.
blogdemoi draws attention to the pseudo-coincidental time of the broadcast – when the neighboring island of Guadeloupe is still shaken by a mobilization which questions the monopoly of a few families, and as another mobilization is scheduled in Martinique on February 5th 2009:
Le timing est presque parfait vu que les syndicats martiniquais appellent à la grève générale ‘contre la vie chère’ (selon l’expression désormais consacrée) à partir du jeudi 5 février.
She expresses her fears concerning the consequences of this broadcast, at a time when economic and ethnic matters tend to get all mixed up:
Ca risque de faire mal.
[…]Il faudra aussi s’attendre à des dérives racistes et xénophobes qui refuseront de s’appeler comme telles bien sûr; tout le monde sait que le racisme et la xénophobie ça ne va que dans un sens, n’est-ce-pas ? J’espère simplement, je croise les doigts, que ce documentaire ne mettra pas le feu aux poudres
[…]It is quite likely that some racist and xenophobic acts will follow and they will not be called so, of course; everyone knows that racism and xenophobia go only way, right? My only hope, fingers-crossed, is that this documentary will not set the island on fire.
blogdemoi‘s concerns may be justified: although the program will only be broadcast in the French West Indies on Feb. 6th 2009, it has already triggered many reactions. Indeed, the program was broadcast on Jan. 31st in continental France and has already crossed the Atlantic thanks to the Internet. bondamanjak and montray kréyol, both from Martinique, expressed their complete shock over the words uttered by a man from one of the richest and oldest “Béké” families, concerning racial mixing and slavery [Fr]:
Dans les familles métissées, les enfants sont de couleurs différentes, il n’y a pas d’harmonie. Moi, je ne trouve pas ça bien. Nous (ndlr : les Békés), on a voulu préserver la race.
Les historiens ne parlent que des aspects négatifs de l’esclavage et c’est regrettable
Historians only insist on the negative sides of slavery and that's a shame.
The man in question has since published a letter [Fr], to say that his words and ideas had been twisted by the journalist, but most people from the West Indian diaspora who saw the documentary in France, feel still miserable about it – like this woman for instance [Fr] :
Bref…ça fait mal…quand même parce qu'on passe (le reste de la population non béké) pour des cons bien gentils qui se font entubés depuis 400 ans !!!
Such bitter feelings are probably one reason why bondamanjak asks the question “DOIT-ON DIFFUSER LES DERNIERS MAITRES DE LA MARTINIQUE AUX ANTILLES?” which means, “Should The Last Masters of Martinique be broadcast in the French West Indies?” The majority of comments on this post say yes, as people seem to think that now is the time for some truths to be officially unveiled.
21 comments
Amur, I enjoyed reading your response to the video The Last Masters of the Islands. You seemed to have put a lot of time in researching the work that Canal+ did to make sure that all news are designed with fairness in mind and not to provoke or encite hatredness.
I was born in Vietnam, grew up in New York and is currently living in Paris, France. I will move to Martinique this summer to work. I hope that you will still be living and working in Martinique by the time I move there, because I would like to make acquainted with you as I find that someone like you who defend and believe that fairness is just. You seem to not let the media lead you blind without thorough inquiries.
born2taste:
I’ve had to fly out of Martinique, because we had no more petrol and were running low on food, but hope to fly back if and when things calm down.
It is with a great deal of regret to inform you that Martinique and Guadeloupe are in Self-Destruct. These islands have so much going for them and despite what the press say, there is (or at least was) very little poverty in Martinique. I see a lot more poverty in the French countryside. Or take a look at St Lucia or Dominica for REAL POVERTY.
Fortunately, there is less violence than in Guadeloupe, but it will take a long time for the local economies to recover from this and unemployment is likely to go roof as businesses are closing permenantly as a result.
If this continues, the only solution is independance, but I don’t have a clue how these islands can independantly afford to pay the RMI to 30% of the population and chomage to 20% (and increasing) of the population.
I work (or worked?) in tourism and had so much hope for these islands which have a lot more to offer than the likes of St Lucia, and it would be a shame for it to descend into a state like Haiti.
I’m on the brink of losing everything that I’ve worked for for the past two years and my message to the grevists and independantists is “Get Real! and look around you to see how good life really is or was.
@amur
Very interesting points, with a lot of pessimism.
If I may, strikers and protesters got already real, because they looked around us to see how hard life really is. Your reality is not necessarily everyone’s reality.
They, well we, are not self-destructing: we are constructing.
Frederic, if you want independence and what you called “constructing” Martinique, then perhaps you should look into Haiti as a learning lesson, and then will speak more on the subject of “constructing” later.
Of course there is unrest. There is unrest because the people want something. I’m not as familiar with the situation as many of you are, but it seems like it would not be such a big deal for the “powers that be” to just give the protesters what they want (I heard on newsy.com that the main issue is 200 extra euros/month for low-paid workers? That’s a drop in the bucket compared to some of the amounts the American government is throwing around these days).
hi everyone
@born2taste
People here are negociating for a better cost of living. The matter is not independance. The matter is that, as good consumers, we no longer want to be cash cows. Indeed such a social crisis is a disruption in the economy, I have lived for more than 10 yrs in Paris, I know that. Better prices in the French West Indies will benefit to all: tourists & locals, entrepreneurs & workers.
@daniel
There is also the -30% decrease on prices of necessity products and services (which was obtained 2 days ago). Some prices have had risen of 70%, 100% in a year. And +600% for some since the transition from francs to euros. Some industries was “found” in a oligopoly context in which some specific laws should have been applied, while they aren’t.
Although the crisis is not a call for independance, the situation and the documentary has given the independance movement a huge boost.
Yes, the French Caribbean is expensive, but if you think that every business is a mega-profitable organisation, you will be horribly mistaken.
The pay rise: Guadeloupe asked for 200 euros per month extra, so Martinique asked for 300 euros per month extra net for everyone. Ridiculous demands which cannot be achieved!
The one breakthrough was a reduction of prices of the 100 most essential items. I haven’t seen the list, but I hear that champagne and rum is on the list. Is that for survival? Has anybody seen the list? Anyway, after negotiations with the Conseil Regional and shipping companies for a drop in import duties and shipping costs, they acheive the 20%. But after, the goal posts move and they want a 20% reduction of 100 ‘families’ of products. What is a “family” of product? Does that mean everything now?
What ever they give, they will continue to come back and ask for more. Where does it stop?
I would like to be positive, but I just can’t see an end.
Hi,
I don’t see anywhere a boost whether huge or not of the independence movement.
No one says nowhere that every business is a mega-profitable organisation. On the contrary people insist of the few economic actors which has the great economic power despite the legal constraints.
I don’t favour a rise of low wages, that’s my own view. I favour decrease of the prices with respect of the law. You may find the list of the 100 families of products at http://www.martinique.franceantilles.fr (our unique daily newspaper) or at bondamanjak.com.
It’s unfortunate that you don’t want to look around and see the abuse, and unproper actions/followup.
Bad business kills the business.
Cheers
Ladies & Gentlemen,
There are many truths. One is that the Caribbean is a relatively small and remote community. It has no natural resources of any consequence i.e. natural wealth. Because of these realities it is a very expensive place to reside.
It would be more expensive, but for government subsidies enjoyed by some of the islands.
In the case of Guadaloupe and Martinique you have former colonies that now enjoy many of the rights
and priveleges of French citizenship. People are angry because they do not enjoy the same advantages of people living in continental Europe. Their leaders appear to be oblivious to the most fundamental aspects of market behavior i.e. supply and demand.
The prices in the United States vary greatly between major metropolitan areas and rural communities. The mega stores (grand surface) like Walmart bring economies of scale to communities that improve on the economic disparities that would exist otherwise.
It is ironic that the current focus in the collective strikes appears to have taken aim at the large companies e.g. grocery stores, rather than the mighty government that has failed to better subsidize transportation and wages; or the “Beke”, who are the personaification of colonialism.
At the end of the day; will there be a net gain under the current scenarios? Marginal benefits, new bankruptcies, increased unemployement and a shrinking tax base.
The demands of the strikers appear to change with the passage of each day. What responsible financial group would want to invest money in this region when it is subject to the rule of a disorganized Collectif”?